CIT Group Completes $3.4-billion Acquisition of Pasadena-based OneWest Bank

CIT Group Inc. has completed its $3.4-billion acquisition of Pasadena-based OneWest Bank and its 70 retail branches in Southern California.
OneWestwill continue operating under that name but now as a unit of CIT Bank.

CIT Bank also will also be based at OneWest’s Pasadena headquarters on 888 E Walnut Street.

CIT, a major provider of commercial lending and leasing services, announced its plans to purchase OneWest for cash and stock a year ago.Federal and state regulators approved the takeover last month after CIT and OneWest overcame objections over whether CIT would operate safely and benefit all sectors of the community.

The combined company now has an estimated $65 billion in assets and $30 billion in deposits.

CIT will continue to be led by Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John Thain.

Speaking to the Los Angeles Times, Thain said there will be some job cuts among the 1,700 employees of OneWest because of the merger, although he declined to give a specific number other than saying it will be minimal.

“There will be some because there’s some duplication but that’s not the driver of the transaction,” Thain said. “There’s not that much overlap.”
Steven Mnuchin, formerly Chairman and CEO of the company that controlled OneWest, now joins CIT as vice chairman and a director.

In 2008, Mnuchin led the investor group IMB Management Holdings LPthat created OneWest from the remains of IndyMac Bancorp which regulators seized as the U.S. housing crisis and severe recession took hold.

Among the first steps it would take after the merger, CIT said it would deliver $5 billion in loans and other support over four years to benefit low-income areas.

On Monday, CIT’s stock was down 14 cents to $46.90 a share in early trading.